Speaking on Ford's fourth-quarter earnings conference call, Shanks said European full-year industry volume will be at the lower end of an estimated 13 million to 14 million units, while Ford will have higher pension costs than anticipated.

"We're on track to deliver a European transformation plan," Shanks said. The plan includes higher costs for restructuring, investment in new product and accelerated depreciation for plants that will close. "These are the investments we must make now to enable the transformation of our European business for growth in the future," he said.

"The Ford team delivered strong results once again, underscoring that our One Ford plan is working," said CEO Alan Mulally, in a prepared statement. "We are well positioned for another strong year in 2013, as we continue our plan to serve customers in all markets around the world."

In North America, Ford reported pretax profit of $1.9 billion, up from $900 million in the same period a year earlier. Pretax profit was $145 million in South America and $39 million in Asia. But Ford lost $732 million in Europe.

For the full year, Ford reported net income of $5.7 billion, or $1.42 a share.